U.S. to Seek Death Penalty for Gitmo Prisoners

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is planning to charge six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States and seek the death penalty.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said an announcement of the charges could come Monday.

Military prosecutors also will ask for the death penalty for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans, according to a second official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the charges had not been announced.

Among those held at Guantanamo is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attack six years ago in which hijacked planes were flown into buildings in New York and Washington. Five others are expected to be named in sworn charges.

"The department has been working diligently to prepare cases and bring charges against a number of individuals who have been involved in some of the most grievous acts of violence and terror against the United States and our allies," Whitman said.

Prosecutors have been working for years to assemble the case against suspects in the attacks that prompted the Bush administration to redouble its efforts to combat terrorism.

"The prosecution team is close to moving forward on referring charges on a number of individuals," Whitman said, declining to name the defendants.

The New York Times reported in Monday's editions that the others are Mohammed al-Qahtani, the man officials have labeled the 20th hijacker; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and leaders of Al Qaeda; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who has been identified as Mohammed's lieutenant for the 2001 operation; al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi; and Walid bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who investigators say selected and trained some of the hijackers.

The men would be tried in the military tribunal system that was set up by the administration shortly after the start of the counterterror war and has been widely criticized for it rules on legal representation for suspects, hearings behind closed doors and past allegations of inmate abuse at Guantanamo. Original rules allowed the military to exclude the defendant from his own trial, permitted statements made under torture, and forbade appeal to an independent court; but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the system in 2006 and a revised plan has included some additional rights.

Defense lawyers still criticize the system for it's secrecy.

The decision to seek the death penalty also is likely to draw criticism from within the international community. A number of countries, including U.S. allies, have said they would object to the use of capital punishment for their nationals held at Guantanamo.

Officials plan to hold the trial in a specially constructed court at Guantanamo that will allow lawyers, journalists and some others to be present, but leave relatives of Sept. 11 victims and others to watch the trial through closed-circuit broadcasts.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed was among 15 so-called "high-value detainees" who were held at length by the CIA in secret overseas prisons — some subject to what critics call torture — before being handed over to the military in 2006.

In Guantanamo Bay hearings that have been criticized as unfair, he confessed to the 9/11 attack and a chilling string of other terror plots last March.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read during the session, according to hearing transcripts later released by the Pentagon.

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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and officials said Monday the United States will seek the death penalty.

Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann said the charges lay out a long-term sophisticated plan by the Al Qaeda terrorist network to attack the United States of America. The attack over six years ago killed nearly 3,000 people.

Hartmann, the legal adviser to the U.S. military tribunal system, said the six include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks, in which hijacked planes were flown into buildings in New York and Washington. Another hijacked plane crashed in the fields of western Pennsylvania.

The military will recommend that the six men be tried together before a military tribunal. But the cases may be clouded because of recent revelations that Mohammmed was subject to a harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding — which critics call torture.

Asked what impact that will have on the case, Hartmann said it will be up to the military judge to determine what evidence is allowed.

Prosecutors have been working for years to assemble the case against suspects in the attacks that prompted the Bush administration to launch its global war on terror.

The other five men being charged are: Mohammed al-Qahtani, the man officials have labeled the 20th hijacker; Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and leaders of Al Qaeda; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been identified as Mohammed's lieutenant for the 2001 operation; al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi; and Waleed bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who investigators say selected and trained some of the hijackers.

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Aleser said:

Arg. First, don't -get- me started on this country and it's complete disregard for things like basic human rights. I'm going to leave that rant for another time.

In the case of these men and the death penaltly... what benefit do they think will come of that? You can't -prevent- crime by taking a population of crazed-out people who aren't afraid of death and threatening them with being killed. Moreover, this could disgustingly turn these complete pigs into someone to -look up- to for others who believe that what they're doing is correct.

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Liebling:-))) said:

I bet Gitmo Prisoners will be happy because they prefer to end their life than spend long years in prison to share with violence there.

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Reba said:

What violence?

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Aleser said:

Arg. First, don't -get- me started on this country and it's complete disregard for things like basic human rights. I'm going to leave that rant for another time.

In the case of these men and the death penaltly... what benefit do they think will come of that? You can't -prevent- crime by taking a population of crazed-out people who aren't afraid of death and threatening them with being killed. Moreover, this could disgustingly turn these complete pigs into someone to -look up- to for others who believe that what they're doing is correct.

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Liebling:-))) said:

I bet Gitmo Prisoners will be happy because they prefer to end their life than spend long years in prison to share with violence there.

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Reba said:

So what should be done with those who were behind the terrorist attacks? What is justice for them?

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Byrdie714 said:

Why should we continue to house them?

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Aleser said:

There is no justice for the crimes they've commited- not while they're on this earth, anyways. The best we can hope to do is isolate such individuals as to protect the rest of the world.

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Maybe, just maybe, we could instead work to change the conditions that bring around radicals, and thus prevent people like this from being created in the first place. Maybe we could work on countering the stigma that is faced- the stigma that turns an ordinary good muslim into a radical who feels like faith is the only thing left for them, the only place they'll ever belong.

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Reba said:

Where would you isolate them?

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Aleser said:

Because taking a life is taking a life, even that of a killers. You stoop down to their level.

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Byrdie714 said:

They took the lives of 3000 people and you still want to house them???

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Aleser said:

No, I don't want to -kill- them, which is far different than wanting to give them fluffy pillows at night.

You can't use violence to solve violence. It is a violation of both my faith and, by requirement, my views on morality.

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Aleser said:

Uh, as they're currently housed in a facility that violates international law and any basic concept of human rights.. I'd say they're isolated.

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Aleser said:

Because taking a life is taking a life, even that of a killers. You stoop down to their level.

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